Councilman Johnson: [stammering] This is a... a... [stammering] Oh, this is a disaster!
Rochelle: Can you believe what this is going to do to the community?
Councilman Johnson: I mean, why would you let your son Chris write a story like this when I'm trying to get reelected?
Rochelle: What? You're worried about being reelected when my son is out there about to be snipped to death by a scissor killer?! Is that what you saying to me?!
Councilman Johnson: Uh, n-no, no.
Adult Chris: [v.o.] Yes!
Councilman Johnson: I'm saying what would people think if I'm allowing a serial killer to roam the neighborhood?!
Adult Chris: [v.o.] I hadn't seen spin like that since Usher battled Omarion.
Rochelle: I don't know if you noticed or not, but ain't nobody in the neighborhood except that killer and my baby!

Adult Chris: [v.o.] My story had pulled the wool over the community's eyes, but Doc's eyes weren't woolly at all.
Doc: Who keeps taking these posters down? Now, Chris, let me see if I understand this correctly. The killer came over here and spontaneously confessed to you about his murderous past in Syracuse, Albany and Pittsburgh. Is that about right?
Adult Chris: [v.o.] Yeah, if by right, you mean wrong.
Chris: Yeah, kind of.
Doc: Oh, what part of that did I get wrong?
Chris: The part about the killer coming out here.
Doc: Chris, you've got this whole neighborhood terrified. Ain't nobody on the streets. Ain't nobody out here, ain't nobody coming in the store.
Chris: I'm sorry; it's just that I want to be remembered.
Doc: Chris, you can't base your legacy on lies. Now, you got to go and tell somebody what you did.

Joey Caruso: [sighs] You just had to lie, didn't you, Aesop?

Chris: So, I gave the people what they want, and now look at me.
Greg: Sometimes people don't like what they want after they get it.
Adult Chris: [v.o.] I wonder if he'll want my foot in his behind after he gets that.
Greg: I got the yearbook.
Adult Chris: [v.o.] I learned a couple of important things from this whole fiasco. Number one, I learned the word legacy. Number two, people are suckers for a serial Scissor Killer story. And C... hey, I could write. But best of all, I finally did get something written under my school yearbook picture. [The caption under Chris's picture reads "Liar"]

Adult Chris: [v.o.] At the end of the school year, I was going to graduate from Corleone Junior High. My eighth grade picture had a list of everything I'd accomplished, which so far, was nothing. This was my last chance to make sure that didn't happen again.
Greg: Why aren't you filling out your yearbook activities form?
Chris: Because right now, the only thing I have to put under my picture is "human punching bag."
Greg: How about "First Black kid at Corleone"?
Adult Chris: [v.o.] Actually, I wasn't the first Black kid at Corleone...
[flashback to 1968: As a smiling Black student gets off the school bus, he is shot]
Adult Chris: [v.o.] I was just the first one that made it into the building.

Chris: Okay, so I might be the first. But until now, that hasn't meant a whole lot.
Greg: But you tried out for the basketball team. And you ran for class president.
Chris: Yeah, but I failed. Nobody remembers failure.
Adult Chris: [v.o.] I thought about other Black people who were first at something, and what it would be like if they had failed.
[fantasy: A middle-aged man is smoking a cigar in his office as he talks to a White baseball player:]
Team Owner: Thanks for showing up. This Black guy was in here, uh, Robinson. You know I was going to break the color line for him. He showed up 20 minutes late. Claimed he couldn't get a seat on the bus. Now you, kid, you can't hit. You can't run. You can't throw. But you show up on time.

Chris: Well, it looks like the only thing left is the Chess Club and Journalism staff.
Adult Chris: [v.o.] I thought about joining the Chess Club.
[fantasy:]
Referee: Go!
Russian Boy: [makes a move] [Russian: "Checkmate."]
[reality:]
Adult Chris: [v.o.] Extra, extra! Dummy joins newspaper.
Chris: School newspaper, here I come.
Adult Chris: [v.o.] Because failure is not an option.

Adult Chris: [v.o.] School newspapers are different in White neighborhoods. For one thing, there's no obituary column.
Lisa: So, what do you want to write about?
Chris: Politics.
Lisa: No. I write about politics.
Chris: Okay, then sports.
Lisa: No, Ping does the sports column.
Adult Chris: [v.o.] Mostly covers Ping-Pong.
Chris: Okay, then entertainment. Like, movie reviews and stuff like that.
Lisa: This isn't Jet magazine, this is a newspaper.
Adult Chris: [v.o.] I like Jet.

Chris: Okay, then what do you want me to write about?
Lisa: I don't know, something that you know about.
Adult Chris: [v.o.] She doesn't have the guts to suggest a fried chicken column.
Chris: Like what?
Lisa: I don't know. Something that's unique to you.
Adult Chris: [v.o.] You know, something that's unique to you, Blackety.

Councilman Johnson: Julius, ha-ha! Good to see you, my brother. Hope you plan to vote next week.
Julius: Yeah, I-I do.
Adult Chris: [v.o.] Hope you plan to lose.